Buch lesen: «Conveniently Engaged To The Boss»

CHAPTER ONE

‘COULD YOU HELP me with this zip, or are you just going to watch?’

Instinctively Joss shut the door behind him, wondering if anyone else had seen, and glanced through the window of the office to make sure his father wasn’t nearby.

‘Sorry, Eva. I was looking for my dad. What are you doing in his office? And why does it involve being undressed?’

Eva shrugged—he watched her shoulder blades move under pale, exposed skin where the dress’s zip was gaping at the back.

‘Edward’s already gone to the boardroom. Shouldn’t you be there too? Never mind. Could you help? I should have been there five minutes ago, but I spilt a cup of coffee over myself and now I’ve got the zip stuck.’

‘Okay, okay—sure,’ Joss said, with a glance back at the closed door. ‘My dad wanted to see me in here before the meeting, but I couldn’t get away from my last call.’

He reached Eva and gently batted her hands away from the zip, pulling the slider to the top as quickly and impersonally as he could manage.

Eva turned her head to look over her shoulder, and as his eyes met hers he felt the tug of attraction that was ever-present around his father’s executive assistant.

‘Um... Joss, I meant unzip.’

Oh, no, that was not what he’d signed up for. No way was he that stupid. He’d been keeping his eyes, hands and mind off this woman for years. He knew the limits of his self-control, and just this proximity to her was pushing it—never mind anything else.

‘I’m not sure that’s...’

‘Joss, would you just do it? Shut your eyes, if you want, but get me out of this thing! It’s not like I’m naked under here, in case you’re worried about your delicate sensibilities.’

He took a deep breath and unzipped, but the teeth snagged halfway down her back.

‘It’s stuck.’

‘Still? Brilliant. I was hoping it was just the angle I was pulling it. Can you unstick it?’

He wasn’t sure he wanted to—not when unsticking it meant exposing more creamy skin and finding out exactly what she’d meant when she said that she wasn’t naked under there.

Joss fiddled with the zip, passing the teeth slowly through the slider and unpicking the threads that had got caught. Finally it gave way and slid smoothly down Eva’s back, revealing a silk slip in a soft pink colour, edged with delicate cream lace. Worse than naked, perhaps, to be so close to seeing the body that he’d dreamed of, only to find it tantalisingly out of reach.

‘At last! Thank goodness for that,’ Eva said, stepping quickly out of the dress and reaching for another, which Joss had just noticed draped over his father’s chair. As the fabric was sliding over her head he turned for the door, but Eva stopped him. ‘Wait—can you zip up this time? I don’t want to be any later than I already am.’

Joss let out a sigh, but crossed the office again and reached for the slider of the zip, his fingertips very close to the rose silk at the base of her spine. He lingered for a moment as he swept her hair away with his other hand, revealing the wispy baby hairs at the nape of her neck and the invitingly soft skin behind her ear.

But before he could cover her safely, the door behind him opened.

‘Eva, are you in—?’

Damn his father and his terrible timing.

‘I’m sorry, Edward. I’ll be right there,’ Eva said, reaching for the zip herself and pulling it further down in the process of twisting round.

‘No, no—I can see I’m interrupting,’ Edward said. ‘I trust you’re both on your way.’

Joss couldn’t bring himself to look, but he could almost hear the huge grin on his father’s face, verging on a full-on laugh.

‘We’re waiting for you.’

His father left the room before Joss could explain that nothing had been going on between him and Eva. He shot a look at her, and saw she looked as taken aback as he did as she struggled with her dress. He pulled the zip up for her—no lingering this time—and strode for the door.

‘What are we going—?’ Eva started.

‘I’ll handle it,’ Joss said.

He walked into the boardroom, still fighting images of Eva’s lingerie-clad body and the look of intrigue and delight on his father’s face when he’d so clearly misinterpreted what had been going on in his office.

He was more used to seeing disappointment from his father, especially when it involved him and women. Since Joss’s first marriage had failed, his father had tried to hide his disappointment that he’d not been able to settle down with anyone else. He knew that when he’d first told his parents he was getting a divorce, they’d blamed the break-up on him.

And then, when he’d walked into the office as a single man, emerging from the dark clouds of clinical depression and divorce, he had realised the strength of his attraction to his father’s executive assistant.

He’d told himself that he would not be going near her—under any circumstances. His father doted on her, and would not take kindly to her feelings being hurt. And after what Joss had done to his marriage—the destruction he’d been powerless to prevent—he knew that he couldn’t expect to make any woman happy.

At least his father respected him professionally. He’d been working for the family’s chain of luxury department stores since he was in primary school, and had earned his position as Vice President of UK Stores. But professional respect and personal pride were two very different things, and Joss knew that an abundance of one would never compensate for the lack of the other.

All eyes turned to him as he entered the full boardroom, with Eva right behind him. They found a couple of spare chairs in the corner. Sunlight flooded in through the old lead-paned windows, brightening the panelled room, which could feel oppressive on a gloomier day.

Joss tried to catch his father’s eye, but he was either deliberately avoiding his gaze or so entranced by the view out of the window that he couldn’t bring himself to look away. The well-heeled streets of Kensington were bustling below, and Joss could tell just from the hum of the traffic that the pavement outside the store was filled with shoppers and tourists, stopping to take in the magnificent window displays for which the store was renowned.

Eventually, though, the old man cleared his throat and looked around the room, glancing at each of the board members in turn.

‘I’d like to thank you all for being here,’ Edward began, with a smile that Joss couldn’t interpret. ‘Especially at such short notice and on a Friday afternoon, when I’m sure you’d all rather be at a long working lunch. I’m afraid that, as some of you may have guessed, an emergency board meeting is rarely called to share good news, and today is no different. So, it is with regret that I have to announce that due to ill health I will be resigning from the company in all capacities with immediate effect.’

Joss felt fear and dread swell in an all too familiar fashion in the base of his stomach as the deeper meaning of his father’s words sank in. His father must be ill—seriously ill—to even consider leaving the business.

But Edward carried on speaking, leaving him no time to dwell.

‘You all know that over the years we have taken steps to ensure a smooth transition when the time came for me to hand over the reins, and so—if you are all still in agreement—I will be leaving you in the capable hands of my son, Joss, who will become Managing Director and Chairman of the Board in my place. Eva, of course, will be assisting Joss in his new role, as I suspect she knows more about my job than I do. I know you will continue to support them, just as you have supported me. Now, I imagine there will be questions, so I’ll answer them as best I can. Who’s first?’

The room sank into silence as Edward finished speaking. Joss looked closely at his father. Ill-health? His father hadn’t taken a day off sick in his life, and yet now he was resigning completely? Yes, they’d talked about succession plans. Any sensible businessman had contingencies for all eventualities, and Edward would not have wanted to leave the company in chaos if anything had happened to him. But had there actually been more to it than that? Had his father known that he would soon be stepping down?

The dread in Joss’s stomach twisted into stark fear as the implications of the announcement sank in and he realised what this must mean. His father wouldn’t resign because of a dodgy hip or ‘a touch of angina’, as he’d once described a health scare. He’d always sworn he’d be carried out of a Dawson’s department store in his coffin. For him to resign must mean he had had some terrible news.

Panic and grief gripped his throat as he noticed for the first time the slight grey tinge to his father’s skin, and the lines around his eyes that suggested a habitual wince of fatigue. Why hadn’t he noticed before? Why hadn’t he been looking? His father wasn’t exactly a spring chicken, and he was still working sixteen-hour days long past the age when most people would expect to retire.

He should have made his father take things easier—should have taken more off his plate.

He met his father’s eye and saw sympathy and understanding in his father’s gaze. He wanted to rush to embrace him, but something froze him to his chair, chilling his blood.

And then warmth crept from the tips of his fingers as a hand slid into his and he heard Eva’s voice.

‘Edward, are you in pain? What can we do to help?’

Joss’s eyes swam and he clenched his jaw, determined not to allow a single tear to fall, to keep control over his emotions. Besides, swiping a falling tear before anyone saw would mean taking his hand from Eva’s, and at that moment he couldn’t see how he was meant to do that.

‘Perhaps we should speak in my office?’ Edward said to Joss, his voice gentle. ‘And you lot—’ he addressed the remaining members of the board ‘you have a good gossip while I’m gone and think of what you need to ask me. Head back to the pub and finish your lunch, if you want to. But get your questions to me sharpish, because I’m planning on being on a sun lounger by the end of next week.’

Edward rose and Joss noticed, as he hadn’t before, that his father leaned heavily on the table for support.

Joss snapped out of his trance and back into business mode as they walked down the corridor and back to Edward’s office, firing questions all the way.

‘Dad? What’s happening? Are you okay? Was this what you wanted to talk to me about?’

Edward collapsed into the chair behind his desk and rested back against the padded seat. ‘Yes. I’m sorry, son. Of course I wanted to tell you first, but you didn’t arrive for our meeting—’

‘Dad, if I’d known—’

‘I know.’ He softened the words with a smile. ‘I know. But it was difficult for Eva to get everyone here at such short notice. I couldn’t delay it any longer.’

‘Couldn’t delay? What’s wrong with you, Dad?’

‘Sit down, son.’ His father indicated the chair opposite. ‘And you, Eva. You both need to hear this. It’s cancer, I’m afraid, and there’s nothing they can do about it. I ignored it for a bit too long, it seems. So I thought it was about time I took that holiday I’ve been promising myself for the last thirty years and let you get on with running the business while I’m still around to answer your questions—there’s no deadline for you two, of course.’

Joss stared at his father, unable to take in his words. His hand found Eva’s again and he gripped it hard, taking strength from the solid presence of her, the warmth that always radiated from her.

‘How long, Dad?’

‘Oh, you know doctors. Never give you a straight answer. A few months, it seems. Long enough to have a little fun before I go. I love this business—you know that I do—but news like this makes you rethink, and I don’t want these four walls to be the last thing I see before I go.’

‘I’m so sorry, Edward.’

Joss could hear the tears in Eva’s voice, and he squeezed her hand. He knew how fond she was of his father, and that her grief must mirror his own. ‘Are you sure you’re comfortable? Is there anything we can do?’

‘Quite comfortable for now, my dear. Thank you for your concern. Now it’s my turn to ask the questions.’ He glanced at their clasped hands. ‘Is there anything you two would like to tell me?’

* * *

Eva sat in shock, silenced by Edward’s words. She couldn’t believe that the old man was dying. Sure, he’d looked a little creaky around the joints lately, but he’d never complained of so much as a runny nose. It just didn’t make sense that he could be terminally ill.

Joss had taken hold of her hand and she could feel the contact burning her skin. She hadn’t thought about it when she’d slid her fingers between his back in the boardroom. Hadn’t thought about all the times she’d imagined the slide of his skin against hers over the years. All she’d been able to feel was the grief and fear radiating from him, and she had acted on instinct, trying to ease it in any way she could.

And now Edward was calling them on it. Under normal circumstances she’d have cleared up the understanding with Edward the minute it had happened. But this was Joss’s father, and they had both just been hit with shocking news. It was Joss’s place, not hers, to explain.

‘I’m sorry you saw that, Dad—’ he started.

‘Oh, don’t be sorry—I’m delighted. I do remember what it was like to be young, believe it or not. I’m just pleased that you two have finally found each other. I can’t deny that I’ve been waiting for this for some time. I take it that if you’re bringing your personal life with you to work then it’s serious?’

Eva felt her mouth fall open and waited for Joss to correct his father, to sum up what had happened with the dress and the coffee and the zip. But expressions chased across Joss’s face faster than she could read them.

She was just about to jump in and explain for herself what had happened when Joss finally spoke.

‘Yes, it’s serious,’ Joss said. ‘In fact, we’re engaged.’

She was about to call him on being completely ridiculous when she clocked the look on Edward’s face. A smile had brought a glow to his face, and he was beaming at them both. Just a moment she was so shocked she couldn’t speak. And then real life kicked in, and she remembered the news that Edward had just delivered, that Joss had just received. She found that she couldn’t contradict him.

Still, she gently withdrew her hand. She had to maintain some semblance of control if she was going to keep her head.

She’d been trying to pretend to herself for years that she didn’t have an enormous crush on this man. That he didn’t enter her mind when she was out on a date with any other guy. And now he had to go and pretend to be in love with her. And the only result of calling him on it would be to hurt the man she’d come to care for almost as a parent. She couldn’t do it to him. She’d have to talk to Joss in private. He could break it to his father gently.

Funny how being angry with him made him that little bit less fanciable—she’d been looking for something to knock the shine off him for years.

It wasn’t as if she wanted to be attracted to him—she told herself that often enough. She couldn’t think of anyone less suitable for falling in love with than the son of her boss, who spent half his time on the road visiting the UK stores, and the other half in his office, buried in spreadsheets and dodging calls from disappointed would-be dates.

Secretaries talked—hardly breaking news.

As soon as she’d recognised where her feelings were going—the irritating pitter-patter of her heart, the annoying dampness of her palms, not to mention the completely inappropriate but delicious dreams that had her waking flushed and impressed by the breadth of her own imagination—she’d acted.

She’d put space between them at the office, avoided him in the break room and at the pub. She’d thrown herself into dating in a way that was the opposite of Joss’s clinical style: enthusiastically, prolifically, discriminately. She’d found handsome, eligible bachelors who weren’t intimidated by her salary or her seven fluent languages—or the handful of conversational ones. She’d dated in Russian, Greek and German, and once—haltingly, but memorably—in Mandarin. She’d gone dancing, cocktail-making, picnicking. Tried blue blood and blue collar.

And not a single one of the men she’d kissed so demurely on the cheek at the end of the night had helped her even start forgetting about Joss. He was beginning to appear annoyingly unforgettable, and now he was pulling her into a deceit that she knew, unhesitatingly, was a BAD IDEA. All caps.

‘Well, like I said, I can’t say that I’m surprised. I’ve suspected for a while that you two have a soft spot for each other,’ Edward said at last, still smiling.

Eva groaned inwardly. Oh, no, how much of her stupid crush had he seen? How much was he going to figure out? How much was Joss going to figure out for himself?

‘And it makes me a very happy man to see you settled and in love before I go.’

The three of them sank into silence as the meaning of his words hit home and the reality of his illness intruded once again on the completely insane situation Joss had just created.

‘But now I’ve got work to do—so get out of here, the pair of you.’

Eva kissed Edward on the cheek and mumbled something indiscernible, then let Joss follow her from the room, past the open-plan desks and into Joss’s office.

‘What the hell was that?’ she demanded as soon as they were alone, staring at Joss as he sank into his chair and rested his face in his hands.

‘Not now, Eva.’

‘Not now? You just told your father we’re engaged—I think I’m entitled to an explanation.’

‘He’s just told me he’s dying. I can’t talk about this now.’

She dropped into a chair opposite him, feeling sick to her stomach. Joss was right—he’d just had terrible news. Much as she had every right to give him hell, perhaps now wasn’t the time.

‘You didn’t know anything about it?’ she asked gently.

‘He didn’t say anything. Just that he needed to speak to me before the meeting. But I was tied up on a call and I... I missed the meeting. He wanted to tell me.’

‘You couldn’t have known he was going to tell you that.’ She crossed to stand beside him and rested a hand on his shoulder. ‘It wouldn’t have changed anything. The news would have been the same.’

‘It would have felt different if he’d been able to talk to me before having to tell everyone else.’

‘You’re right. I’m sorry.’

He leaned his head against her arm and she let her hand brush against his hair.

‘And I’m sorry for what I told him about us.’

Eva moved her hand away, aware of a sudden change of the chemistry in the room. She hitched herself onto the corner of the desk, letting her stilettoed feet dangle.

‘What was that about? The truth would have been a much simpler explanation. It’s going to be a hundred times harder to explain things now. Engaged or not, who knows what he thinks we were up to in his office?’

‘I was thinking on my feet. I didn’t want him to think that you were involved in something sordid, and my brain went to “engaged” rather than “wardrobe malfunction”. You saw his face when I told him that we were getting married. I knew that it would make him happy.’

‘Marrying me?’

‘Being happy...settled. It’s all he wants for me. And since my divorce... You don’t want to hear all that. Just trust me on this one. I know my father. I knew it would make him happy.’

‘So what’s it going to do to him when you tell him there’s no engagement?’

And suddenly, from the defiant clench of his jaw and the killer look in his eyes, Eva knew that he wasn’t planning on telling his father the truth at all.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she said, keeping her voice low and commanding. ‘We have to tell him the truth. I’ll tell him about the coffee and the dress. I’ll sort this out.’

Joss shrugged, never breaking eye contact, never backing down from the challenge she’d made so clear in her voice.

‘We’ll explain about the dress. But I see no reason to drop the pretence of our engagement.’

She stood slowly from the desk and took a step towards him, letting him know that she found neither his position in the company nor the six inches in height he had over her intimidating in the slightest. Least of all when he was seated and she could tower over him.

‘No reason, Joss? You just panicked and told a bare-faced lie that has implications for us both. I have no intention of lying to your father, so unless you want him to hear from me that you just fabricated a fiancée, I think you would do better to just tell him now.’

‘Or we could make him believe that it’s true.’

She took half a step back to stare at Joss. ‘Have you completely lost your mind? Why would we want to do that?’

‘Maybe I have lost my mind. It wouldn’t be the first time. I don’t know... What I do know is that my father has just told me that he’s dying, and I—we—can do something to make him happy in the time he has left.’

‘By lying to him? Do you think he’d really want that?’

‘You saw his face. You tell me if you think the lie hurt him.’

She shrugged, unable to contradict him. ‘I know he seemed happy, Joss. But it can’t be right. I mean, how long would we have to keep this up?’

She sat down again, losing a little of her anger as she realised what she was asking.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...’

‘I know. I know you didn’t mean anything by it. But, yeah, we would have to keep it up until he dies. Which, apparently, won’t be all that long. Don’t worry—I don’t expect you to actually say I do.’

She sat and thought on it for a moment. Remembered the look on Edward’s face when Joss had told his lie. She couldn’t deny that he’d looked happy. As happy as she’d seen him for a long time.

She loved Edward. He had been the one constant in her life for so long now, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to manage without him. A sob threatened, and her hand lifted slowly to her throat as she forced it down. She slumped into the back of the chair, suddenly deflated. Surely if it made Edward happy she could do this. She should do this.

‘I need some time to think about it,’ she said eventually, not wanting Joss to know the direction her thoughts had been heading.

Goodness knew she’d been trying to keep the details of her mind secret from him for long enough. If they were to go through with this completely ridiculous idea, how was she meant to keep that up? To hide the fact that her mouth wanted to part every time she saw him? That she had to stop her tongue moistening her lips and her body swaying towards him?

‘Take some time, then. No work’s going to get done this afternoon anyway, by the looks of it.’

Eva shook her head. ‘Your father will need me.’

‘I’m going to my father’s office now, and we’re going to have a long talk. I’ll make sure there’s not a problem. If you want, I can say you went home with a headache.’

‘While he’s still at work with a terminal illness? Thanks but no thanks. Lock yourself in with your father if you want, but I’ll be at my desk if either of you need me.’

Joss leaned back in his chair, raising his hands to admit defeat. ‘We need to talk, though. And we can’t do that in the office. Dinner tonight?’

Dinner tonight.

How many times had she imagined Joss issuing an invitation like that? Though she’d always known that she wouldn’t accept. It wasn’t even the time that he spent travelling around the country that made her think he was a million miles from boyfriend material. No, it was the fact that even when he was here he wasn’t quite...here. There was an isolation about him. A distance. Even when he was close enough to touch.

She’d done long-distance before, with people in her life that she’d loved, and she’d hated every second of it. The last thing she needed was a man—a fiancé—who was distant even when he was in the room.

But she couldn’t ignore him while he was going around telling people that they had got engaged. She had to convince him to tell his father the truth. And then figure out how they were meant to work together.

‘Yes,’ she agreed eventually. ‘I guess we do need to talk about this. My place? I don’t feel like going out after news like this. I don’t suppose you do either.’

‘No. That sounds good. Eight?’

She nodded, and scribbled down her address.

Walking back to her desk, she grabbed the coffee-stained dress and put it in the garment bag that she’d flung over her chair as she’d raced for the boardroom.

The blinds in Edward’s office were drawn—a sure sign that he didn’t want to be disturbed—so she sat at her computer, knowing that her work—the one constant she had in her life—was going to change irrevocably, and there was nothing she could do about it.